--INTRODUCTION--
Thief has a long illustrious history with the PC platform. A stealth game about thievery where stealth is of uttermost importance. I was always envious of people who could play Thief (back then my rig could barely run it at 10fps)
So this review comes from someone who never got to play the original games but can still appreciate its roots.
--STORY--
You are Garrett, Master Thief and...pretty much that's all there is to know. Thief is both a sequel and a reboot and as such (rebooquel), it takes a 'don't ask, don't tell' approach to Garrett's sordid history. They don't openly acknowledge his past adventures nor do they pretend this is his first outing so as to not scare off potential newcomers to the series.
The story is pretty uninspired. Right off the bat, Garrett is saddled with your stock buxom 'action gurl' sidekick whose disappearance guilt trips Garret into saving the city. To unravel the mystery, Garrett will have to sneak inside Morgues, Insane Asylums, Manors and pilfer some riches along the way.
On the character front, every one besides Garrett could easily be described with one sentence or even one word. Let me prove my point with this...there is a character who comes across as a potential ally and says to you "We're not so different, you and I." I shouted; "Cut! Cut! If you're gonna say that, at least do it whilst stroking a white cat. Ten yards penalty, buck-o!"
--GAMEPLAY--
Thief plays in 1st-person perspective. As Garrett, you traverse the city's rooftops in search of your next big heist. Upon exiting your hideout, you are treated to a view The City which would serve as your hub. You can either follow your pointer to the next objective and begin a story mission or you may explore the rooftops, sneak through windows and pilfer whatever golden goblets you can get your grubby hands on. Now normally this would be a solid concept except that the hub is incredibly narrow, tight and claustrophobic. Multiple loading points between each section of The City makes exploration tedious.
When you're in story missions, each chapter plays out in the same three-beat manner. Sneak into level, find story object and escape during an elaborate running sequence. Do NOT think this all occurs in the span of one sitting, because each level is broken into mini-chapters (breaking in, exploring the level and finally the escape) thus, you have *Very* little choice in how you want to achieve an objective. Sure, there are multiple paths but that usually translates to having bought a screwdriver which unlocks an air-vent for you to bypass one guard.
This isn't Dishonored where your exploration is rewarded or you can use your abilities in an inventive manner to complete your objective. Thief is linear as hell. It still rewards for different 'playstyles' but that's basically how many guards you knocked out and how many alarms you've set. The path towards your goal is still very much linear.
That's not saying the game is boring but it lacks the versatility of Dishonored and the dialogue options of Deus Ex: HR.
--CONTROL--
Surprisingly, Garrett controls very well. There's a real sense of weight to the character when he runs ala Outlast. It really made me appreciate how far 1st person games have come. Holding the L2 button is your equivalent to Assassin's Creed free-running mechanism, causing Garrett to leap over boxes, ledges, frog hop from one beam unto the next. Time it right and you could pull of an exciting sequence of events like sliding over a table, jump out of a window, bunny hop a couple of beams before jumping over to the other roof.
Aside from that, the only worthy mention is the use of the Touch-pad. Your touch pad controls your inventory wherein you
--ART DESIGN--
This is my biggest tripe with the game. If this game was a human being, it would have been born with the name Generique El Generico. Everything about The City is lifeless, drab and uninspired. You might be playing the devil's advocate that this reflects on The City's inner turmoil or whatnot but I felt the setting lacked personality. It didn't stick me after I had finished the game.
--SOUND--
Sound is competent, music is serviceable.
Voice acting can range from tolerable to grating. Garrett comes across as your wanna-be bad boy, constantly telling people to leave him alone yet can't stand to go two minutes without making a wry comment whenever he sneaks somewhere or steals something. Erin, to top it off, can't decide whether she's trying to be a femme-fatale or moaning in pain.
--FUN FACTOR--
Thief's campaign is fun for a single playthrough over the weekend. Completionists might be find getting all the collectibles to be an arduous tasks what with the loading times between sections of the city's hub and the level's aren't varied enough to warrant a second-playthrough to see what different paths you could take. There's a level editor somewhere but I care very little to finding out what it does.
CONCLUSION
Thief is a creatively bankrupt game. It's a generic sandwich. Filling but ultimately forgettable.
The Thief game series has had many ups-and-downs, and 2014's reboot showed a great deal of promise nearly a decade ago.
This would be such a great franchise to reboot. A darker game than Dishonored, but focused around stealth and large scale heists from an oppressive monarchy.
That's probably my dream game. I love immersive sims and stealth!
People say they hate forced stealth sections in games. But a game focused on stealth with good mechanics and level design feels refreshing from the guns blazing games which I also enjoy. I really enjoyed playing Splinter cell, a game that not many try to mimic today. Not too many games let you shoot lights out, or throw cans or bottles to distract guards. Sure there are games with stealth options like the new Wolfenstein but it doesn't feel necessary to play it that way. Hitman might be the only game that has that feeling, except for that Korean game that may or may not ever come out.
The last one was a trainwreck and has been in the bargain bin since just after launch. If they bring it back, they need a massive change in direction.
only direction they should take is putting it in reverse and going back to what the originals did. I couldn't finish this game, and I made a choice to never play it again. I watched a video about the og Thief and Deus Ex games and the current AAA standard will forever hold back these games. These 2 games alone had already solved so many problems with modern gaming that I don't think they'll get a chance at something great unless they're made by a dev that actually give a damn.
Jesus the last installment sells at about 2 euro and even that is over paying for it. Absolutely diabolical game
BacklogCritic: "Saying I didn’t like Thief’s story is an understatement, and had it not been for the extremely fun and compelling gameplay mechanics, I would have put Thief down within an hour of playing. But I was in the mood for a stealth game, and in that aspect, Thief delivered. If you can overlook the lacklustre story and just focus in on the gameplay, then Thief is well worth the ten hours of your time to clear it from your backlog."
I had Thief from PS+ on PS3 and I couldn’t get past the tutorial stage because of a stupid glitch
I went onto play the superior Dishonored instead
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It was the controls too right? I remember the tutorial stage, I had to sneak past a guy near a bridge. Every time I try and sneak past, he would spot me. The controls in general just felt PC like which is robotic (on a console). The game is made to be played on PC.
I've had the new Thief game since I first got my PS4. I've still not tried it. I love the original PC games though. Thief 1 & 3 are great but the best one is the 2nd one. I loved that one. I think I'll give the game a go this week. I don't think it'll be as good as 2 but it's a thief game. It can't be all that bad.
It’s a shame what happened. Thief 1-3 remain the best stealth fps games but the reboot is a butchering...
Got about halfway through this when it came out. Stopped playing because other games I was more interested in released, and never got the urge to go back. Plus, there were some bugs causing some items to be missing from the map that the devs, at the time, had been refusing to fix.
Why are sequels and remakes hates in the gaming community? 'Thief' may have the answer.
You're completely right, Thief 2014 was not at all a remake. The author even writes rebooted Thief in the last paragraph, but writes remake earlier. If you want to write a series of articles, get your wording straight.
If it was a remake, people would have gobbled it up. But it was a reboot made for plebs, of course it's gonna be shit.
Bad remakes are hated. Good ones aren't. And if people are sceptical about yet-to-be-released remakes and reboots it's because remakes and reboots have a reputation for being bad. Good ones are certainly possible, and they do exist, but it's hard to get excited when so many of them are bad.
Probably because the devs change so much of what was loved about the original when they do a remake.
Thief could have been better if it was more open and sandboxy. But it felt like a very linear experience. The next Thief should be more focused on player choice
With Deus Ex:HR they were able to grab the essence,this is a mix of many things but nothing essentially to make it a good revisited of the series.
I've been playing some of it and so far it's just ok. There are some good ideas, it's a decent game overall, but the flaws and loading just bring the game down.
It would have been much better as a 3 - 4 hour $30 download title in an smaller map setting, with a streamlined level design to cut out all the loading.